Friday, March 2, 2018

Tomasz Mackiewicz

Tomasz Mackiewicz alias Czapkins is a Polish mountain climber. He went missing on January 27, 2018, near the summit of the 8,126 m high Nanga Parbat, known as the "Killer Mountain", in Pakistan.
Early life and expeditions: Born in Działoszyn, Poland, Mackiewicz married twice and had two children from his first marriage and two from the second marriage. In 2008, Tomasz was awarded Colossi the feat of the year award along with Mark Klonowski for an extensive traverse of Mount Logan. In 2009 he summitted Khan Tengri 7,010 m as a solo climber. He tried several times to summit Nanga Parbat in winter. While climbing with Klonowski in 2015, he reached a height of 7,400 m and in 2016, along with the French climber Élisabeth Revol, he reached an altitude of 7,200 m on Nanga Parbat.
Disappearance: On January 25, 2018, while attempting his seventh ascent of Nanga Parbat, known as the "Killer Mountain", in Pakistan, at 8,126 m , Mackiewicz along with French climber Elisabeth Revol had reached 7,400 m from the Diamer side. As the weather turned bad due to a snowstorm, Revol noticed Mackiewicz's bad condition and started taking him down. According to Revol, he could not walk, see or even communicate. She secured him from the wind, called for help and started her trip down the mountain. Mackiewicz had developed severe frostbite, altitude sickness and snow blindness while Revol had mild frostbite on five toes. Another Polish team that was attempting a nearby summit of K2 was called for rescue. On January 27, 2018 the rescue team, including Denis Urubko and Adam Bielecki, were dropped off by a helicopter at 4,900 m on the mountain. The team rescued Revol at 6,026 m and brought her to safety. Mackiewicz, who was believed to be at his tent at around 7,400 m, could not be rescued due to bad weather and a snowstorm. Ludovic Giambiasi, Revol's partner, wrote on a Facebook post: The rescue for Tomasz is unfortunately not possible - because of the weather and altitude it would put the life of rescuers in extreme danger, It’s a terrible and painful decision. ... All our thoughts go out to Tomek's family and friends. We are crying. Revol was later carried to Islamabad for treatment. Tomasz most likely died within 24 hours, but the cause is unknown and he has not been found since his disappearance.